A Bye Week

The guys at work come to me for a lock-in. Come on Alex, they say, I need a lock-in for this week. And for the past three weeks I have given them who I believe is a shoe-in to win. Last week it was New England to beat Cincinnati, which a couple of them nodded their heads to in that skeptical way, a slow nod, more like a rocking of the head, and took Cincinnati anyway. I don't know why they ask me because despite being correct on picking New England last week, and the Giants, Buffalo and Indy, I was completely crucified by every other one of my picks. I am sick of waking up on Tuesday mornings feeling like a complete and utter loser. I did not want to bet this year, play the pools, pro-line, for all the reasons that I am experiencing now. One of my work mates hands me this week's sheet for the pool he coerced me into joining, the one he won last week, and he says he needs my picks by the end of the night. I'm not doing it this week, I tell him. Shocked, he asks me why. So I explain to him that I have no clue who to pick, no feel for who the hell is going to win. I don't know, I say, I don't know. I'm at a loss. Statistically Arizona should not have beaten Pittsburgh last week, there's no way KC should have won and Cleveland...And another thing I tell him just because certain players are injured does not spell loss, the player that comes on for them could be the next best thing, look at Edwards for the Bills. So the injury list means nothing to me, an injury could unleash the unsung hero of a team. No, I tell him, I'm not doing the pool this week. I feel like a pebble under Shockey's cleats. I need a bye week, I tell him, to get back to purely enjoying the games, not being bummed because a team didn't cover the spread, not watching with a pro-line ticket in one hand and the other hand covering my eyes. I need to don my Colts hat, have a beer, enjoy myself, the banter, speculate, celebrate and grow back to my normal size.